Aditya Pai

Why did you choose Cranfield?

I did my undergraduate degree in economics and management and after that I had an interest in finance, economics and strategy. I didn’t know what to do because I liked all of them. That’s when I decided, I’ll do a Masters in Management because it would give me a flavour for all these areas and more. I chose Cranfield firstly, because the practicality of the subjects is great. Secondly, because the MiM at Cranfield allows you to balance the tangible and intangible of work or of the nature of management. It’s a very well rounded programme and I think it’s crucial now when I’m working I’ve realised that it’s not just about accounting or just about strategic marketing but it’s more about how you bring all those elements together to work. Through studying the MiM programme, I understood that quite well. Lastly, I also looked at who the Cranfield alumni are and the network Cranfield has and the organisations that the university works with. I thought that would be useful for me to make a good network when I’m looking for a job in the future.

What was Cranfield's impact

I never thought that I would end up working in Stockholm so that was particularly interesting for me. I was looking for jobs in the UK and I did manage to get a job in the UK where I did my internship but I decided to accept the role in Stockholm. I also had the opportunity to go back home to India to work as I was offered several roles out there. I never thought that I would have an interest in becoming an Entrepreneur one day. After spending much time at Cranfield, and attending Venture Day where people that started their own businesses came to speak to us really sparked an interest in me to start my own business. I didn’t have any plans to do this before coming to Cranfield.

One thing that I learnt about myself when I was at Cranfield was that it’s not so much about how good you are in a particular subject or in a discipline. It’s more about how well you can bring skills and practices from different areas. For example bringing something from managing people and organisations, from strategy and from accounting then that’s something that can really have an impact on an activity in an organisation. More importantly, I think cultural diversity. Through working with different people, in different learning teams I had the opportunity to understand how people from different cultures work. Where I work now, we have 20,000 employees all from different parts of the world. Through studying with such a diverse cohort at Cranfield this has provided me with the awareness I need when working with people from different cultures in my current role. I believe that this awareness will also help me get ahead of the game in the multi-national company that I am working in at the moment.

The highlight of the course for me was the balance of the theory that you learn and how that theory can be applied in the real world. With modules such as Management Consulting, you’re using what you have learnt and are supporting a company that comes to us with problems that they are experiencing. So once you have learnt all these wonderful things, you have the opportunity to test the theory. We were then given the opportunity to take this one step further by actually implementing all of this when we carried out our internships. So by the time you obtain your first job after your masters studies, you have the confidence as you think ‘ok I have actually done this before’. Lastly, another highlight for me is the faculty; they teach you everything you need to know. 

The other thing that I really enjoyed was the managing people and organisations module because it makes you understand that it’s not just the technical skills but also the soft skills that you need in order to be successful in an organisation. That is not something you can learn in books. Richard, who taught the module allowed us to use the theories but at the same time we practiced them. For example, we worked on developing trust, we looked at the theories and then took part in various activities that would help us to put the theory into practice. It’s one of those modules that you go home still thinking about it and you really learn a lot about yourself. 

The internship definitely helped us to develop many skills. It taught me how to reflect on what you have done. It allows you to look at what you are working on and what you have studied. You learn time management skills and the technical skills, and you learn how to tie all of this together. You learn the whole concept of deliverables by having to manage your internship and your thesis project at the same time. I feel it gives me an edge over a lot of people because I know how to prioritise what I need to do when and how I need to do it, so I am able to implement my time management skills. When you see colleagues doing this whilst doing your internship, it’s quite inspiring and you are able to learn from them.